restaurant

As the restaurant owner pours the glistening grains of rice into a bowl, sprinkles them with strips of fried donut and a generous ladle of shredded pork and mushroom sauce, Zhu Thong scrapes every centimeter of his bowl with a spoon. in stainless steel.

Wenzhou-style sticky rice (温州糯米饭) is a classic breakfast in this city in Zhejiang province, where Zhu is from. And this is how it was served in family restaurants at the entrance to his village in the suburbs of Wenzhou. But during the first twenty-six years of his life, Zhu only experienced such delights once or twice a year, when his parents brought him to visit.

Born in 1988, Zhu grew up in Hebei, some 1,600 kilometers to the north. Her father was a businessman and traveled a lot. The family rarely returned to their hometown, so the taste of this dish is especially precious to Zhu.

In 1984, Chinese leaders selected Wenzhou as one of fourteen coastal cities to open it up to foreign investment. This launched the city into a period of rapid economic development. Small family factories sprang up like mushrooms. They made shoes, clothes or lighters that were distributed in China and around the world. This bowl of steaming rice is the bond that unites the Wenzhou diaspora.

To make this dish, sticky rice is soaked for about five hours, until the grains turn transparent and break when tapped with your finger. It is then placed in a wooden basket wrapped in linen